The present invention relates to an information processing system, and more particularly to an information processing system which is adapted to perform an operation on data represented in a table format and to output the resulting data in a table format.
As can be appreciated from the frequently-used terms CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) and FA (Factory Automation), manufacturing systems have become highly computerized Hence, there is a need for a production managing system designed to aid in planning and control of manufacturing. The conventional production managing systems usually require users to input data required for performing operations and parameters for controlling the flow of data processing. In other words conventional production managing systems require the proper specification (input) of a combination of data and parameters before starting data processing. However, the conventional production managing systems have been designed to only mechanically process data input by the users so that the systems require the users to have an extensive understanding of how the information processing system operates before using the information processing system. This is a disadvantageous feature of the conventional production managing systems.
Conventionally, the method for building and operating an information processing system in an office has been discussed in the paper "Method for Building an Office Information System According to Prepared Models", Proceedings of Information Processing Society, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 909-919 (1984), Uota, et. al.
This method is designed to analyze the information processing business in an office and divide the flow of information processing into a part (model) to be used in a wide range of business applications and a part (adapter) to be used for specific business applications. When creating the actual system by using these parts, an operator should select the proper model for the object business application and combine a specific adapter dedicated for the business application for the purpose of building the required information procedure. This technique, therefore, has an advantage that various information procedures can be easily created by taking into consideration various combinations of prepared models and adapters. The technique, however, has been proposed on the assumption that the operator must have a full understanding of the information procedure and build the overall processing system as he or she needs. The technique, hence, does not solve the disadvantage that the operator is required to know the operating method required to obtain the necessary output information.
As described above, conventional information processing systems require the users to have not only a knowledge of the business (for example, production management) but also a knowledge of the operating method of the information processing system, such as determination of the processing content, selection of a program to be used, preparation (creation or edition) of input data, and determination of the procedure. The knowledge of the operating method of the information processing system specifically includes knowledge about the computer hardware, the operating method of the computer, the software language, the programming method based on the software language, the structure of the database, the language for using the database, and so forth. The operator, hence, is required to have the foregoing knowledge before using the information processing system, and such knowledge is typically obtained by reading manuals for an object system or from lecture by a system designer or a dealer.
Further, an information processing system, including information processing for production management is necessary to precisely and quickly obtain a desired processing objective. Hence, it is necessary to build such an information processing system in such a way as to permit a user to freely change specifications of information processing, such as the processing content and an output format, and to provide the necessary information (output table) according to user needs. Moreover, the information processing system should to be designed so that the user can operate the information processing system only within his or her expertise.
The conventional information processing system, has a disadvantage that the system is difficult to use by anyone except an expert in software techniques and calculating methods (algorithms) and has a poor operating characteristic, that is, man-to-machine interface.
In order to overcome the foregoing disadvantage, that is, to improve the operating characteristic of the information processing system, a menu-guidance system has been widely used as a user interface. The menu-guidance system provides several menus (selecting items) so that the user can select the proper item according to the required processing and the input data. Hence, this menu-guidance system is capable of indirectly receiving a user's requirement. However, this system still requires the user to have a significant understanding of the input data and the processing content. Therefor, the production managing system for performing sophisticated operations may result in a break in data as a result of erroneous operation of the system by an unskilled user. This is a disadvantageous point of this menu-guidance system. This kind of menu-guidance system has been disclosed in JP-A-63-286921.
On the other hand, there is has been provided a computer software descriptive language (for example, MIMS manufactured by the General Electric Company) which is designed to build an information processing system (processing for translation of table-formatted data and which is capable of inputting table-formatted data in a file, as in the case of processing information for production management, performing less complicated calculations, such as a tabulation or set operation, and outputting the resulting data to the file in a table-formatted manner. However, MIMS is less flexible in that a user cannot freely change a command, such as the basic descriptive form of processing for translation of the table-formatted data.
Further, attention is directed to a database retrieving (operating) language for information processing analogous to a table-translating function. The database retrieving (operating) language has no capability of describing important logic relationships for information processing, such as setting of initial values (initializing) used in describing the information processing for production management, the definition of internal variables, substitution of values for internal variables, and the processing of overflow values (post-processing) produced during tabulation.
Moreover, the technique disclosed in JP-A-62-57023 utilizes a document style ordinarily used by a person in charge of production management and is designed to directly receive an output specification (output table specification) for information processing required by the user and to configure the information procedure based on the output specification. This technique allows the user to indicate his or her desired output specification in a table-format padding manner, which makes it possible to avoid the necessity of selecting and indicating the input data and the information procedure. This technique is advantageous in receiving as an output specification the requirement about item arrangement of an output table, item attributes, and operational conditions and defining the processing specification (executable processing) based on the received requirement.
This technique, however, does not provide means for determining whether or not the procedure defined by the system itself is acceptable to a user. Hence, in case the user desires to change a production schedule based on his or her specific criterion, for example, to change a production schedule into the most economical schedule, the user cannot change the schedule, because, as stated above, this technique does not provide means for partially changing the procedure defined by the system itself. This is a disadvantageous point of this technique.